On the 20th of January, the LAA announced that it intended to run a two-stage tender process for civil and family contracts to start in April 2018 and that stage 1 would probably start in April 2017, with stage 2 in August 2017. In February they announced that a family mediation tender would open at the same time.
On Friday 17 March, they announced that instead they would be running both the selection criteria and invitation to tender stages together in May 2017.
Practitioners will need to remain vigilant and watch out for further LAA announcements. They can be found here.
Legal Aid Handbook 